Blindsided is the authoritative guide to crisis management. This "how to" handbook gives essential advice that every manager needs to know when a crisis hits. Written by CMI Founder/CEO Bruce Blythe, it's a fascinating, easy-to-read guide that draws on Blythe's 20+ years of experience as a pioneer in crisis management.

  Understanding the Impact of Trauma (Excerpt)
      (By Rebecca R. Hastings, SHRM, March 2006)

News reports of natural disasters, military actions, terrorist threats and violent crime have become the rule, rather than the exception. But when such events hit close to home, the impact can spill into the workplace, often disguised as a performance problem. That's why understanding the causes and results of trauma is an essential management skill.

But some individuals are more resilient than others. "What is very traumatic for one person may not be traumatic at all for someone else," says Bruce T. Blythe, CEO of Atlanta-based Crisis Management International and author of Blindsided: A Manager's Guide to Catastrophic Incidents in the Workplace. "The overwhelming majority of people have coping mechanisms" that help them deal with trauma, he says. PTSD occurs when normal coping mechanisms are overwhelmed. But even when traumatic events don't result in a diagnosis of PTSD, individuals may still struggle to make sense of what has happened to them. Traumatic events have a greater impact when an individual's expectations about life are shattered. "Bad things happen--that's the way the world is made," says Blythe, but most people simply avoid thinking about them.

When traumas are known or work-related, employers can ask employees how they feel the situation should be handled. "One of the fastest ways to make a crisis escalate is to create outrage, through a failure to predict or respond to trauma or by demonstrating a lack of sensitivity," says Blythe. A manager who says "I know exactly how you feel--my dog died last week" to someone who just lost a spouse, for example, may find himself faced with an unexpected reaction, Blythe adds. As a result, it may be best to let the person who experienced the traumatic event set the emotional tone for the workplace.

Trauma can also exacerbate other problems, Blythe says. "Trauma increases predispositions to things like depression, anger and anxiety," he says, and that can further complicate an individual's recovery. According to the NCPTSD the most common problems occurring in conjunction with PTSD include alcohol abuse and dependence, major depressive episodes, conduct disorders, drug abuse and dependence, and phobias.

Blythe says that an individual coping with a traumatic event will have natural reactions, such as nightmares or depression, and that these reactions can themselves be distressing to experience. It is when individuals become distressed about their reactions to the original event that they are at risk of PTSD, he says. "However, if you accept that it is part of the healing process and move on, it will be better in the long run."

Employers are at risk for legal allegations of negligent planning if they fail to prepare for foreseeable workplace events such as employee violence, occupational accidents and even natural disasters common to the company's geographic area. "Litigation, reputation, morale and loyalty are all negative outcomes that can result from a failure to foresee risks," he adds. "Prepare, prepare, prepare," says Blythe.

Blythe says managers need to remember that they have two key roles: to help grow the company and to protect the core assets of the organization. Understanding the causes and effects of trauma and training managers to approach employees with a problem-solving, rather than punitive, focus is essential to achieve the latter role, which includes protection of the organization's human assets.

Rebecca R. Hastings, SPHR, is online writer/editor for SHRM.

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